Criminal Defense

High court won't hear appeal in drug case

BENSALEM

The state Supreme Court this week refused to hear an appeal in a case where a county judge tossed out evidence in a $1 million drug trial because the alleged dealer wasn't given a Spanish-speaking interpreter.

Miqueas Acosta, 39, was arrested in June 2000 after police found a kilo of cocaine hidden in secret compartments inside his minivan. The car had been pulled over on southbound Route 1 in Bensalem for an expired inspection sticker.

The incident was one of the biggest drug seizures in Bucks County history.

Acosta was set to stand trial in 2000, but at a pretrial hearing, county Judge Rea Boylan Thomas ruled the drugs were inadmissible in court because Acosta didn't voluntarily give police consent to search his vehicle.

Acosta, a native of the Dominican Republic, claimed he was confused by the English-speaking officers' questions and felt pressured into letting them look inside his car.

The District Attorney's Office appealed Thomas' decision to the state Superior Court and was denied last year. The state Supreme Court refused to take up the matter, thus affirming the lower courts' decisions.

Acosta's trial must now be scheduled in county court in Doylestown Borough, where prosecutors will have the option of proceeding without the drug evidence or dropping the charges. Acosta's lawyer, Michael Parlow, said he didn't know when a trial date would be set.

Acosta, whose last address was in New York City, remains free on bail.

Reprinted with permission from Bucks County Courier Times

Personal Injury

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